Trickle Charger Fault
TLDR: we have been told that the portable, plug-in trickle charger that comes with the car is not meant to be used all the time - only for emergencies. Have you been told this?
For reference Kia EV5 MY2025
We picked up our EV5 in mid April and have been charging overnight - very consistently and happily - using the 10A setting on the portable trickle charger provided by Kia upon purchase of the car. The charger is plugged into a 15A circuit of its own to take full advantage of the 10A draw.
Approximately mid June, the charger began to intermittently fault “E5” overnight. We figured as it’s winter here in Australia maybe the plug was actually getting too cold causing the fault. Even though the car and charger are in a garage. Mid July the fault began happening every time we tried to charge the car - even in the middle of a nice 20° day. We decided to test on a second 15A circuit installed in our house - different electrician - and it was still faulting.
Also at this time we had a couple of “Check EV System” messages pop up on the dash on days of long drives but the next day it would be gone and no faults were recorded on the car or on the Kia Connect app - all systems still said normal.
We contacted our local Kia dealership and they were finally able to see us yesterday. We have been informed that it does appear to be a fault with the charger itself and that the car has a “pending” fault code, but everything seems okay. The service manager informed us that the portable charger is only meant to be used in emergencies and the we should just buy a wall mounted charger. This was pretty disappointing to hear as the trickle charger works just fine for our family’s needs. Has anyone else been told this information? He stated that all trickle chargers provided by manufacturers for all EV’s are only meant to be used in emergency situations. On EV pages I see comments from plenty of people that they solely charge using a trickle charger just as we have been.
They have ordered a new trickle charger for us and it is back ordered to arrive 6-8 weeks but he said it’s likely to be longer than that.